With the state’s budget situation continuing to falter, the University will be forced to make even larger cuts than expected.

Georgia’s income in July fell 6.6 percent from the previous year, according the Georgia Department of Revenue.

“If these trends continue, there is no way these figures can support the budget passed by the legislature,” said Charles Willey, spokesperson for the department.

Gov. Sonny Perdue is now forced to fill a $1.6 billion gap between what economists predict the state will need in this fiscal year and what is budgeted, said Bert Brantley, spokesperson for Perdue.

The governor has asked each state agency – including the Board of Regents – to cut 6 percent from current budgets and prepare plans for possible 8 percent and 10 percent cuts.

The Board of Regents met in Atlanta on Wednesday to approve the fiscal year 2010 budget request of $2.45 billion – a 6.5 percent increase – but board members were cautioned that the system might not receive the full request due to declining tax revenue, according to a Regents news release.

The Board also decided to move forward with the medical partnership between the Medical College of Georgia and the University by appropriating $8 million for physician education.

To deal with the economy, the University prepared a 3.5 percent and 5 percent budget cut plan in July at the request of Regents Chancellor Erroll Davis.

The University is currently working on a 6 percent reduction plan and has been asked to prepare an 8 percent reduction plan for fiscal year 2010, Tom Jackson, vice president for public affairs, said.

“It is a very fluid and evolving situation and our plans have to evolve with it,” Jackson said.

Although the cut will affect every part of the University, the administration said it aims to protect the core mission of educating students by maintaining strong classroom instruction.

“One way to do that is to keep faculty lines in place, and we are on the record in saying that tenured and tenure track faculty will not be laid off,” Jackson said. “This means hiring fewer part time instructors and removing vacant faculty lines that aren’t filled.”

In the original 3.5 percent and 5 percent budget cut plans, the University aimed to avoid layoffs and to lower costs through retirement and attrition.

“Our goal is to avoid layoffs as far as we can, at 6 percent and 8 percent it will be difficult . We don’t have a whole lot of experience with laying people off. We had to lay off a few people in 2002 and before that 1992,” Jackson said.

If faculty lines are removed and part-time instructors are not hired, it will force the University to cut its course offerings and make classes larger, one adviser has said.

The budget cuts may “result in fewer upper-level courses offered in 2009-2010. Nothing is clear at this point,” School of Public and International Affairs Advisor Paul Welch wrote in an e-mail to undergraduate students.

He urged students, especially those who plan to graduate in the year 2009-2010, to take at least two upper level classes this fall.

“This will be a serious matter for us in light of the high demand for classes in our very popular international affairs and political science majors,” said Thomas Lauth, Dean of the School of Public and International Affairs.